AI PACs Have Dumped Nearly $1 Million Into an Obscure Senate Race

Super PACs linked to AI companies and investors have contributed nearly $1 million to South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds' upcoming Senate race, aiming to influence the outcome of a race that appears certain due to its non-competitive nature. The majority of this funding, around $600,000, has come from the super PAC Defend American Jobs, which is backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Rounds has additionally received approximately $215,000 directly from AI lab employees and affiliated super PACs, primarily from Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft. With less than two months until the November midterm elections, Rounds currently leads other candidates, with Brian Beng taking second place after Julian Beaudion withdrew from the race last month.

Notably, Rounds has attracted more contributions from tech groups than from South Dakota-based donors, highlighting the significance of AI industry support in shaping the upcoming legislative priorities around AI regulation. Rounds has been seen as a strong ally by AI executives, which could prove vital as Congress faces the challenge of crafting AI legislation.

The support also shows how AI companies are increasingly focused on maintaining influence over Capitol Hill amidst a wave of AI-related legislation. Recently, Leading the Future, a super PAC partly funded by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and tech investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreesen, pledged $2 million to support AI-friendly Republican senators, including Rounds.

In South Dakota, AI regulation has already become a contentious issue following the state's passage of a bill earlier in the year that imposes additional water and energy costs on data center operators. This has sparked a heated debate within the state legislature, with Republicans opposing tax incentives for data center investments and pushing for stricter oversight.

Despite his endorsement of adding restrictions on data centers, Rounds' former chief of staff Robert Skjonsberg serves as a registered lobbyist for Meta, a company that operates data centers in South Dakota. Rounds' office stated that a consultation with the Senate ethics committee deemed no conflict of interest. The issue of data centers has sparked bipartisan opposition across the nation, with a recent Gallup poll revealing that seven out of 10 Americans oppose data center development due to the strain they place on local water and energy resources.